Arms Wide Open
by Mr Slayer
Summary: A songfic set to Creed's "With Arms Wide Open."


TITLE: With Arms Wide Open  
AUTHOR: Mr_Slayer  
SUMMARY: A songfic set to Creed's "With Arms Wide Open." When I heard this song for like the millionth time a few days ago I immediately thought about what if Shinji was to have Asuka's child and that these lyrics totally related to Shinji and how he would want his son/daughter to be. Since the lyrics denote to a boy, then it's gonna be a boy. Sorry to spoil the surprise. :) 

  
Shinji waited with clenched breath as for the hundredth time a sweat drop fell from his forehead. If water didn't evaporate so easily, then there would have been a huge puddle below him. He was going to be a father. It all came so fast. When the doctor told him and Asuka that it was going to be a boy, Shinji didn't know what to think. He thought about how bad of a parent his father was. And Shinji didn't want his son to grow up the way he did. Sitting back and wiping the sweat from his brow, words floated in his conscious:

Well I just heard the news today   
It seems my life is going to change   
I closed my eyes, begin to pray   
Then tears of joy stream down my face 

With Misato holding his right hand and his friends Toji and Kensuke on his left, Shinji took another deep breath and let it out. Misato squeezed his hand harder and he could see tears running down her cheek. The thought of her becoming a grandmother was very emotional. And Toji and Hikari, newly married, have already been named the Godparents. Kensuke is becoming an Uncle and for the first time, there is something to make the boy giddy with joy; and it didn't involve anything military or technological.

With arms wide open   
Under the sunlight   
Welcome to this place   
I'll show you everything   
With arms wide open 

How much Shinji worried about the boy that he was bringing into his life was gonna turn up like him. A coward, running away at every obstacle that he approached. No matter how many times Misato would assure the young boy that he wasn't a coward, he would still think that he was. The images of how terribly his father treated him would return and envelope any positive emotions that were apparent and back would the denile return. On the other hand, which was a surprise to all, Asuka was ecstatic about the baby. She nearly cleaned both Misato and Shinji out of money buying new toys, clothes and essentials for the unborn baby. A new apartment also is in the works for when the young boy reaches the age to sleep in a bed. But that was long from now. Shinji and Asuka just got out from staying with Misato; they were on their own now and were enjoying it very much. But with joy comes hardships. The apartment was very costly, but with their reputation of being Eva pilots, not only did they do book interviews, movies, television documentaries and whatnot, but they were both still in the military; both big-time associates to the Japanese Strategic Self-Defense Force. 

I'm a father, Shinji thought.

Well I don't know if I'm ready   
To be the man I have to be   
I'll take a breath, take her by my side   
We stand in awe, we've created life 

I don't know what to do, Shinji thought. I'm supposed to be happy but I am not happy. If only Rei was here. She always listened to him. Shinji's pilot friend, Rei Ayanami had long since disappeared after the 17th Angel attack. And Shinji hasn't seen her since. After the fall of NERV and the arrest of his father and other members of the JSSDF, Rei had gone missing and was said to be dead. But Shinji never gave up hope. Rei was the closest thing he had to his mother. Mother.

With arms wide open   
Under the sunlight   
Welcome to this place   
I'll show you everything   
With arms wide open   
Now everything has changed   
I'll show you love   
I'll show you everything 

Tick-Tock! Tick-Tock! Tick-Tock! The blasted old mechanical clock that taunted the poor Shinji Ikari clicked away; on to oblivion. Would she ever come out? Is something wrong with the baby? Is there something wrong with Asuka?

Then in came a nurse, clad in white garments with splatches of blood apparent on her chest. Dried blood. Was it the baby's? Was it Asuka's? She knew Shinji from earlier when he brought the laboring Asuka in; almost collapsing himself in nervousness. She had a grim look on her face. This wasn't good. Shinji almost passed out right there frrom the woman's look. But he waited till she said something.

"Your boy, Mr. Ikari. He's out, but there is complications. He's not breathing and the doctors are trying their best to help him. We don't know yet what's going on."

Oh, God! His baby boy had just arrived to be sent to his death immediately. Did God hate him this much. Not only did he take his mother away, his best friend, and take all emotion of his father away, but he also is going to take his baby boy. WHY? What did I do to deserve this?

With arms wide open   
If I had just one wish   
Only one demand   
I hope he's not like me   
I hope he understands 

"Can I come and see him?" Shinji asked.  
  
The nurse looked more grim then when she came in, now. "Yes. The doctor says there isn't much hope, but so that you can see him."

The five of them, Hikari was sitting next to Toji, walked back into the OB part of the hospital. Passing other white and emotionless rooms, they reached one in the very back, where talking was heard. But this talking wasn't sorrowful. It was happy talking. And it was coming from Asuka. Hearing this Shinji rushed to the room. Inside he saw his little boy lying in his lovers arms, more alive than ever. Asuka saw her husband and smiled with tears running from her eyes.

That he can take this life   
And hold it by the hand   
And he can greet the world   
With arms wide open

But when he looked past his loving wife and new baby boy, he saw someone that only he could see. With one palm on Asuka's shoulder and the other face down, the bluehaired Rei Ayanami stood with the biggest smile on her face. Her image was so distorted though. As if she was there but wasn't.

"I cured him," she whispered. And, again, only Shinji could see and hear her. "Thank you, Shinji. Thank you for caring for me when I was alive. This is my thanks to you."

Shinji couldn't say a word. He was so distraught with emotions that he nodded a thanks and as she appeared, Rei disappeared without a trace. Walking over to Asuka and his new baby boy, Shinji began to cry. Tears of happiness, not of sadness. He now knew what happened to Rei and now was the father of a healthy baby boy. 

The End

Author's Notes: When I came up with the idea of this songfic, I knew it would work. Not like my last two fics that plumeted to their poor and defenseless deaths. And if the grammer and spelling is bad, it's because I'm using WordPad to write this because I don't have Word installed yet after I had to reinstall everything on my computer. In fact, I really couldn't care about grammer or spelling. I have decent spelling and grammer and I could tell you of other great authors with worst writing skills than I. So just deal with it. Anyways, thanks for reading. And C&C is welcome at mr_slayer65@hotmail.com. Now my next feat is a karaoke fic. I hope for this to provide some laughs and maybe some cries. Later.

Addendum: After overlooking the story and a review from dennisud I wish to clear up some things. First of all, thanks Dennis for reading and reviewing. In his review Dennis noted that I did a decent job keeping Shinji IC. But the problems were that there wasn't enough Asuka and Rei was a sister to Shinji, not a mother. Now, when I implied that Rei was the closest thing Shinji had to a mother, it was a figure of speech. I know Rei is more like a sister than a mother, but Shinji didn't know his mother really well, so I thought that Rei, being a modified clone of his mother, would act more like that: a mother. And the thing with Asuka is a shocker. I am a die-hard Asuka fan. I worship the ground that she walks on. I even worship Tiffany Grant, the english voice-actor for Asuka. I love everything about Asuka. So I apologize if I didn't put enough of Asuka in here, but I intended for this to be ranged around Shinji and his thoughts about being a father, which the song was about.


End file.
